This bill improves kidney disease prevention, treatment, and patient access to care through several Medicare-related changes. The legislation expands Medicare's annual wellness benefit to include kidney disease screening starting January 1, 2025, and allows dialysis facilities to provide kidney disease education services with separate payment. It directs the Department of Health and Human Services to study kidney disease patterns in minority populations and kidney transplantation barriers, with reports due within one to eighteen months of enactment. The bill also refines how Medicare pays for new kidney disease drugs and devices by establishing permanent add-on payments equal to 65 percent of costs, ensures Medicare Advantage plans directly reimburse providers for innovative kidney therapies, modernizes quality performance measures for dialysis facilities, and guarantees that beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease can purchase Medigap supplemental insurance starting January 1, 2026. The changes primarily affect Medicare beneficiaries with kidney disease, dialysis facilities, nephrologists and other kidney care providers, and pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers serving this patient population.
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